Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, attended the G7 Trade Ministers’ meeting held at Villa San Giovanni, Reggio Calabria, Italy.
On the sidelines of the meeting, the minister engaged in several high-level bilateral meetings with his international counterparts, reflecting India’s commitment to fostering stronger economic partnerships globally.
During discussions with Antonio Tajani, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, both the Ministers agreed to enhance bilateral trade and investments, industrial co-production, and cooperation in clean technologies.
With Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President of the European Commission, the discussion was focused on promoting India-EU trade and economic collaborations, including ongoing FTA negotiations.
Minister Goyal in talks with New Zealand’s Trade Minister, Todd McClay explored opportunities to enhance bilateral trade and investment ties for mutual growth. While with Jonathan Reynolds, UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, the conversation included plans to take forward the discussions on FTA between India and the UK.
With Dr. Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs & Climate Action, Germany, the Indian minister discussed opportunities to elevate the growing Indo-German trade and economic partnership.
The discussions focused on the upcoming Inter-Governmental Consultations and the Asia-Pacific Conference of German Businesses in Delhi.
During the discussion, Piyush Goyal emphasized the efforts of various countries to build resilient supply chains under platforms like the G20 Generic Framework for Mapping GVCs, the 14 Member IPEF association, Trilateral Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI), and India-EU TTC.
The minister also proposed collaboration among trusted partners to reinforce global supply chains in critical areas such as critical minerals, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and green energy; and advocated public-private partnerships, investments in critical infrastructure, innovation, and consistent regulatory frameworks across G7 countries and partner nations.
He addressed the impact of the 3 Cs – Covid, Conflicts, and Climate change – on global value chains, emphasizing the necessity for robust partnerships and cooperation.
He also introduced the concept of the 3 Fs – fragmented, fragile, and fraught with uncertainties – characterizing the current global context and urged for greater alignment of investment, trade, environment, and energy policies to fortify global supply chains.